Thermostat for a 333

RE:Thermostat for a 333

Hi Steve,
One of the advantages of being an MCA member is the Newsletter or MASSEY CLIPPER. The Business Card Directory or Business Ads are one of the best ways of finding Massey parts, manuals, etc. Two people that come to mind are: Terry Kessel - 771-677-7350, tlkessel@embarqmail.com and Jack Holton - 712-546-6784, jlholton@live.com . -- They both stock many Massey parts and have great knowledge of Massey Parts. They also attend many Massey Shows and meetings.

I don't think the original 333-444 thermostats are available, but they do have a replacement thermostat that works and fits fine. The last 444 I worked on, someone had installed a thermostat that fit the housing but it won't work correctly. When cold, the thermostat blocked all coolant flow through the engine. The coolant had to get above normal temp to finally get hot coolant to the thermostat to open it. When the thermostat opened, only about 1/2 of the coolant went to the radiator because the other 1/2 recirculated back through the engine. These engines have a large recirculation passage, so in hot weather and heavy loads, the engine runs hotter because so much of the coolant just recirculates and is not cooled by the radiator. Even if the thermostat is removed, about 1/2 of the coolant recirculates. The original thermostat opened the passage to the radiator as coolant got hot and closed the passage that recirculated back to the engine.

The replacement thermostat fits into a little adaptor; this restricts the recirculation coolant flow so when the thermostat opens, most of the coolant will go through the radiator.

RE:Thermostat for a 333

Jerry,
Thanks for the reply. I checked with Terry and he doesn't have any. I was able to get one from Napa, thermostat, thick rubber washer, and brass collar. The housing gasket I located from Wayne Stienhardt from Canada. It's on the way.
Steve